Students launch action day to combat education plans

Thousands of students up and down the country are expected to walk out on university campuses today in another sign of discontent at the coalition government’s intentions for Higher Education.

The National Union of Students has said that action includes boycotts on lectures and seminars across England today, alongside various rallies, protests and petition signings – all aiming to show that people are now being priced out of university study.

Action will be held at a number of campuses, including King’s College and Goldsmiths in London and universities in Sussex, Liverpool, Manchester, Kingston, Brighton, Birmingham, East Anglia, Bournemouth, York and Edinburgh.

NUS President Liam Burns has said: “We need a national debate on changes to higher education and this week we will remind ministers that we are watching what they’re doing. When the government quietly dropped plans for a higher education bill earlier this year they didn’t drop their plans. They simply removed the opportunity for the kind of scrutiny that has been afforded to changes to the NHS.”

“Students, parents, lecturers and anyone with a stake in education wants to know what the government and our institutions have in store for higher education and demand that they come clean.”

Today’s displays are coming as part of a week of action intended to demand that the government comes clean about its plans for higher education in this term. There’s growing discontent at the cuts in funding and free-bursaries that the coalition are reluctant to make wide public knowledge.

A government spokesman from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said: “We are putting students at the heart of the system, with a diverse range of providers offering high-quality teaching. Going to university depends on ability not the ability to pay.”

Typical lip service from a government that simply refuses to listen. Should this week of action take place in the right manner, we don’t think anyone can have any complaints.